Sunday, January 28, 2018

Frost from Fire

As different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.

~ Emily Bronte

It has been a cold, frosty winter for the most part. One downside is that it's been too cold to wander about comfortably with camera in hand. Another is that my apartment windows are so heavily covered in frost, that I have a hard time seeing outside of them. The upside however, is that it makes for some interesting macro photography. Frosty windows with minimal tweaking are below.

Winter is a glorious spectacle of glittering fractals complete with a soundscape and atmosphere entirely its own. ~ Anders Swanson

The sun sent its first light over the horizon and sprinkled her golden glitter on my window pane.

It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it.

What a severe yet master artist old Winter is. No longer the canvas and the pigments, but the marble and the chisel.

~ John Burroughs

As the day grew lighter, so did the colours reflected in the glass.

The frost performs its secret ministry,

Unhelped by any wind.

~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I just kept seeing little worlds within this tiny frozen space.

In winter we behold the charms of solemn majesty and naked grandeur.

~ James Ellis

I love how depending on the time of day and the colour of the sky, various shades appear to soften the icy etchings.

Nothing burns like the cold.

~ George R.R. Martin

Silvery blue crystals with aqua hues in the sky beyond.

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.

~ Carl Reiner

Some of these photos are from last spring like this one taken in March of 2017.

I watch the springs, the summers, the autumns;

And when comes the winter snow monotonous,

I shut all the doors and shutters

To build in the night my fairy palace.

~ Charles Baudelaire

As was this frosty feather.

Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours.

~ Robert Byrne

Also from last year, I turned up the contrast and vibrance on this and the next image, and found that these sparse bits of frost looked like unusual bugs crawling around on the glass.

Melancholy were the sounds on a winter's night.

~ Virginia Woolf

This pattern should come with its own sound effects.

Winter came down to our home one night

Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,

And we, we were children once again.

~ Bill Morgan, Jr.

A nighttime shot with enough light from behind to silver-paint the window.

It is said that in a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer. ~ Author Unknown

Layer upon layer of sparkling frost, and what appears to be a silver leaf a little left of center. I might not be able to see out my windows but they do entertain me.

The gaunt limbs, and stark, rigid, death-like whiteness of winter.

~ Bret Harte

And later in the night, city street lights help illuminate the window's canvas so that Jack Frost can do his work.

There is a grandeur in winter, stern and wild it may be, but a grandeur which speaks to the soul.

~ C. J. Peterson

On New Year's Eve, the moon was nearly full - and it rose early. You might have to pull back a bit to see the curve of that lovely orb in the background.

The winter frowned its icy eyebrows

~ Florenin Smarandache

Or I could just give you a more distant perspective instead.

I hide myself in the quiet white of Winter and

nestle in her comforting folds of cold oblivion.

~ Terri Guillemets

And here we are further still - the near-full moon smiling contentedly at Jack Frost's work.

Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.

~ J.R.R. Tolkien

And on New Years Day, the full Wolf Moon appeared bright and beautiful in the eastern sky.

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.

~ Anton Chekhov
A bit late in the wishing but Happy New Year, everyone.

WOW! These images almost make me sorry that I had the windows in my house replaced. I used to see decorations like that.I kind of miss them, but I also know that my house is likely better for the new windows.Thanks for sharing these beauties.

You've been spending far too much time cavorting with Jack.... er, I mean Mr Frost. But you two have definitely been having lots of fun. I love the photos and the captions and your elegant descriptions!

What a delight! These photos are amazing and the last one should be framed...I'll look at the cold out my window a bit more closely! I hope all is well with you and a very happy new year to you too! Happy February..a bit closer to Spring!!

What's It All About?

I love wordplay. Puns and double entendres have always tickled my funnybone. Colourful and whimsical imagery also hold great appeal for me. This blog is about a bit of both.
If you're interested, have a look over here which is where I first posted the sunflower found in The Smitten Image header.